The Coffee Date
by Sadie
Summary: When Daniel asked Janet out for coffee (just an innocent, friendly coffee date, honest!), they never knew what they were getting themselves into. In no time the two find themselves facing a force to be reckoned with… the SGC rumour mill! (Dan/Jan, S/J


Title:                 The Coffee Date

By:                   Sadie

Category:         Romance/Humour

Couple(s):        A Dan and Jan romance with some Sam/Jack on the side

Rating:              PG

Season:            5

Spoilers:           Everything up to season 5, in particular "Rite of Passage"

Summary:         When Daniel asked Janet out for coffee (just an innocent, friendly coffee date, honest!), they never knew what they were getting themselves into.  In no time the two find themselves facing a force to be reckoned with (much to Sam and Jack's amusement)… the SGC rumour mill.  

Authors Note:   This light fluff was the result of too much caffeine of the coffee kind, a Sunday with little to do, the lack of reading a good Dan/Jan fic recently, and the fact I had enough resolve to do something to fix the problem.

I know I'm screwing a bit with "time" –how could it be a week after 'Rite of Passage' if 'The Core' just came out?  Good question.  I'm not sure either.

Enjoy (and be sure to read it with a cappuccino… *g*)

-S

***

He asked her out for coffee the other day.  It made sense –she liked coffee, he liked coffee (okay, replace "liked" with "was addicted to" and you'd probably be more accurate).  He was a friend who wanted to make sure that she was okay.  She was a doctor who hated that sort of thing.

He meant it purely as a friend thing.  It was just coffee, for god's sake!  Definitely a friend activity.

"You've got a date with Daniel?"

Sam Carter, who was supposedly another friend of Janet's, obviously wasn't seeing it the same way.

"It is *not* a date, Sam.  It's coffee.  Same thing you and me are doing right now!" protested Janet, pointing to the used Styrofoam cups in front of them.

They were sitting in the commissary, drinking coffee and talking about various unimportant things (why "The Core" was such an unrealistic movie –from a medical and astrophysical point of view, SG-1's latest mission to P3X 487, how Sam had saved the world last week and missed a hair appointment as a direct result) when Janet offhandedly mentioned Daniel's coffee invite.  It was a slip of the tongue… in no way did she want Sam Carter's opinion.  No way.  Definitely not.  Really.

Okay, maybe a second opinion wasn't such a bad thing…

"This," explained Sam, pointing to the cups, "is different.  This is the spur-of-the-moment-nothing-else-to-do coffee thing.  Yours is a going-out-for-coffee-in-the-near-future thing.  Yours is a coffee date, while this is more… random."  Of course!  That made perfect sense!  Sam Carter knew everything, didn't she?

"It was late," Janet said, trying to explain, "And I was still pretty wound up about Cassie."  

Sam nodded her head sympathetically.  It was only a week ago that Cassie had been Nurrti's guinea pig… again.  Janet had been an emotional wreck.

"I think he was just checking up on me."

"Doctoring the doctor?" Sam teased, but added on a more serious note, "It sounds just like him, though.  He can really be sweet sometimes."

Janet gave her friend an odd look.  Sam continued, "In a Daniel sort of way."

Dr. Fraiser smiled, "Yeah, I guess he can."

"So," prodded the major, "Daniel was in your lab eleven thirty at night, asking you to coffee…" She trailed off, waiting for her friend to pick up the sentence.

"That's it!  I don't know how these ridiculous rumors got started."  It was quite frustrating, really.

"So you didn't..."

Janet reached over the table and punched her friend in the shoulder.  "What do you think?"  Janet didn't let her answer, "Of course not.  Daniel did not kiss me on the cheek!"

Sam could barely conceal her laughter.  "Janet, I think you're a little behind on the rumor mill."

"What do you mean I'm *behind*?" Janet asked, her face going pale, "Sarah talked to me about it half an hour ago…" Janet did a pretty good impression of Snow White. "What did you hear Sam?"

Sam couldn't handle it anymore.  She burst out laughing.

"Sam!"

Between giggles, she managed to spit it out, "Just something about you giving Daniel a full medical checkout, if you know what I mean."__

Janet swore, if Sam wagged her eyebrows, so help her god… (Her friend had been around Jack O'Neill for much longer than anyone could consider healthy.)

Sam wagged her eyebrows and Janet lunged at her.

***

Daniel Jackson was in a good mood.  He was positively chipper (yes, chipper).  He'd finished translating the cuneiform tablets from P3X 487, a society that seemed to resemble that of the early Sumerians and had close ties to Babylonian society… Needless to say, his "rocks" were translated and Daniel was happy.

He was walking down one of the SGC's corridors (they all looked the same –grey, white writing on the walls, the occasional door, and those fuse boxes that served some unknown purpose) when "it" happened.  Daniel felt himself lose his balance as a petite, redheaded woman crashed into him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry…"

"Hey, are you okay?"

Daniel put his hands on the woman's shoulders, and tried to steady both of them from the collision.

Her voice sounded familiar.  Before he knew it, Daniel was looking right into the eyes of one Doctor Janet Fraiser.

"Daniel," said the flustered doctor, and Daniel couldn't help being amused by her embarrassment.  Her cheeks were boiling red.

"Hey Janet," he teased, "Imagine running into you."

"Well," she recovered quickly from the shock, "I'm always doing my best to get more patients into my infirmary, Doctor Jackson."

"So I'm just another victim, Janet?"  Daniel took away his lingering hands from Janet's shoulders.  She was still blushing –a sight that filled Daniel with a guilty pleasure.

She smiled (why was his heart beating faster?).  "One of many, I'm afraid," she answered, and turned to continue her sprint down the hallway.

"Hey Janet!"

She shouldn't turn around.  She shouldn't turn around.

Janet turned around. "Yeah?"

"We're still doing the coffee thing?"

The rumours were a pain, Janet told herself.  It was their fault that she wasn't able to concentrate on her work recently.

"Sure…"  She obviously wasn't concentrating on what she was saying either!

"Okay, we'll set a date later," he shouted back at her.  Janet disappeared a second later, and Daniel never saw her cringe at the word "date".

Unbeknownst to both of them, Lieutenant Jessica Simon saw it all.

***

"Guess what I saw, guys!  Doctor Jackson and Doctor Fraiser hugging in the corridor… they're dating!  I heard them talk about it."

"Doctor Jackson?  You don't know who he is?  The brown-haired sweetheart from SG-1.  Yeah, he's cute, isn't he?  Well you'd never guess what I heard!  He and Janet Fraiser kissed in the corridor on level eight this morning.  Too bad that dreamboat is off the market!"

"So I was talking with Tom about five minutes ago and apparently Daniel Jackson… yeah, the brown haired guy in SG-1.  Nope, he's a civilian.  Can I get on with my story?  So, yeah, they were in the corridor, get this, making out and even better, they got caught by General Hammond!"

"You'll never guess what I heard!  Stacy told be that Tom heard from a reliable source that Doctor Jackson and Doctor Fraiser were making out... get this, on the table in the briefing room.  And then, believe it or not, they were caught by General Hammond!  Apparently, he can't do anything because Jackson's a civilian or something like that.  They've been secretly dating for years now…. Oh, they're engaged?  I didn't know that!"

*** 

"So Daniel," drawled Colonel O'Neill, "You and the good doctor…?"

"Don't Jack," snapped the archeologist, "I really don't want to hear it."  And boy, had he been hearing it.  It seemed like every corner he turned there was a group of giggling nurses whispering about him and Janet.  Admittedly, he could be a bit air-headed sometimes in the matter of the SGC rumour mill, but *this*… Well, it was a bit too big to ignore.

Unfortunately for Daniel, Colonel Jack O'Neill lived for moments like this.

"So I shouldn't be offering my congratulations, then?"

"Congratulations?  For what?" said Daniel, "Actually, never mind.  I don't want to know."

Jack ignored Daniel's protests, "For your upcoming wedding, of course."  Jack O'Neill smirked –he really didn't care if he ended up in hell for these kinds of things.  "I'm quite insulted though that you didn't ask me to be your best man."  Daniel's "deer caught in headlights" look was well worth the trip to hell.

"Wedding?" Daniel's voice broke on the last syllable.

"Yep!"  Jack wondered if his old heart could take this much fun.  "What's a good date for the bachelor's party?"

"Shut up, Jack."

"Teal'c knows this place where they have Jello wrestling…"

"Shut up, Jack."

"Because, even though I know you haven't asked me yet, I damn well better be the best man!"

Jack wasn't that surprised when Daniel stormed out of his own office.  The Colonel sat on his friend's desk, grinning like an idiot.

"That wasn't very nice, sir."

Carter walked into the room a few seconds after Daniel had walked out, oblivious to her eavesdropping.

"Yeah," he admitted, "But it did make my week."

He was still grinning like an idiot and Sam felt herself soften under his look.  He moved over on Daniel's desk, patting the space next to him.  The major looked at the offered seat and then at the open office door.  She took a slight step back, and Jack pretended to look offended.

"Daniel and Janet might not have learned yet how to keep off of the base grapevine…" _But I have._

He let out a small chuckle, "I think we might have finally lost our title!"  It was an old joke between them.

"For 'Most Talked about Non-Couple on Base'?" she teased, "Damn it!  I really wanted that trophy!"

"Yeah, me too."

He smiled at her (Sam's knees went slightly weak –old knee injury) and she smiled back (Jack's heart upped its tempo –he had an irregular heart beat problem) and then they were both grinning like idiots…

***

They bumped into the hallway again, although this time it was less violent.  It was Daniel's fault –he'd been preoccupied, not paying attention to where he was going (thinking about the rumours, thinking about how much of a jackass Jack was, thinking about her).  Janet had been musing all day about the same thing (the rumors, that is, in *no* way had she been thinking about Daniel *that* way… no, no, no, no!).

So it was natural that they'd crash into each other again.

 "Janet!" and "Daniel!" they both said at the same time, respectively.

Daniel gave her a sheepish look, and helped her pick up the file folder that had flown out of her hands.

And as if on the same brainwave (which Janet promised herself she'd look into later), they spoke at the same time (again): "Sorry."

"We've got to stop meeting like this…" Daniel muttered the lame pickup line.  It was the only thing he could think of, and for some reason he was disappointed with himself.

She grinned in response, "Daniel, I think people are already talking."

"No, really."  Daniel found himself grinning at the silliness of it all.  "Coffee?" he asked.

Janet replied quickly, "Why don't you come over to my place?  Is seven okay?"

"Sure."

And that was that… and both of them scurried away before they could be further victims of the SGC rumor mill.

***

_It wasn't a date.  It wasn't a date.  It wasn't a date –God, who was she trying to kid?_

Janet fixed her hair for the third time that evening.

_Whatever happened to "never getting involved with my patients"?  Or "not dating within company walls"?  Not that it was a date…_

Janet sighed.  There was a real possibility that it was a date, the first one she'd been on in a *long* time.  She just wasn't good at the whole denial thing.  Now Sam and the Colonel on the other hand… Janet smiled to herself.  She supposed she could have it worse.

Her hair refused to be tamed.  It was mocking her.  She was sure of it.  "Screw it," she muttered, and went on to finish putting on her makeup.

And it was only seconds after she'd been doing a fine impression of a goldfish (putting on her mascara) when….

"Mom!" called Cassie from downstairs, in her best 'sing-song' voice, "Your *date's* here!"

Janet felt like screaming in exasperation….

***

It was awkward.  Ridiculously awkward.  If Janet thought that it wasn't possible to be awkward around someone you knew inside and out (literally), she was quite mistaken.  It was stupid that it was so awkward.  Janet blamed the rumours… it was all *their* fault.

"So…"  Daniel stirred his coffee nervously.  Janet knew he was nervous because he'd been stirring it for over five minutes… even though it was black.  No milk.  No sugar.

"So…" she echoed.

"I know that…"

"Janet, I was thinking…"

The Connected Brainwave Theory (or "CBT" for short) that Janet had been theorizing about recently, kept becoming more and more plausible.  Janet and Daniel quickly apologized at the same time for speaking at the same time, providing more CBT evidence.

Her: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Him: "Sorry, please go on."

Her: "What were you going to say?"

Him: "Nothing important.  What were you going to say?"

Her:  "Nothing that can't wait…"

There were five minutes of apologies and banter over who should "go first".  And then eventually a coin toss…

Janet lost.

"I just wanted to say thank you," she said, wringing her hands.  "You're a good friend, Daniel, and these last few weeks really haven't been the easiest for me.  So thanks."

That's what this "coffee date" was for, wasn't it?  Daniel Jackson's equivalent to a check-up?  She just wanted to put his mind at ease, and then they could go back to their non-coffee dating, strictly patient-doctor relationship.  That's what she wanted, right?

Daniel blushed at the kind words, and gave her a tiny smile (Janet felt her stomach drop to her knees), "You're welcome, Janet."

And if that was all that happened, Janet could have easily convinced herself that this coffee date really wasn't a date and that it really was (as she had been saying the whole time) a friend thing.  Because they were friends…

But Daniel's hand *had* to sneak up and cup the side of Janet's face, and tuck an arrant hair behind her ear.  And Janet's body *had* to lean slightly into his touch (without consulting her at all!).  And Janet *had* to realize that she really didn't want it to be a friend thing at all.  And the fluttering in her chest *had* to agree with her.

"So…" she sounded breathless… why did her voice sound like that?  "What were you going to say?"

He grinned (Janet's stomach was at her ankles).  "I was going to ask a favour…"

"Really…"

"Think you could find a reason to give Jack a really, really big needle come his next medical?"

She chuckled softly, "What did he do this time?"

"Well," Daniel leaned in, conspiratorially, "I just found out that he's been a bit of a gossip recently…"

Janet felt her face turn red and her hands clench tightly around her coffee mug.  All of the rumours…

"You've got to be kidding me," she replied.

"I'm positive he's responsible for the 'on the briefing room table in front of General Hammond' one…"

"The 'engaged for three years' rumour?"

"Sarah Jensons… but he expanded on it…"

"The 'married on an alien-planet' one?"

"What!  I haven't heard that one!"

"It's pretty recent… only a couple of hours old."  Janet moved her face closer to whisper in Daniel's ear.  "Needles aren't going to cut it… we need to do something more drastic."

Daniel's hand somehow had maneuvered its way on top of Janet's.  He whispered back, "Any ideas?"

Janet shivered slightly at his breathe on her ear and his low (sexy?) tone of voice.  "I think we need to start a rumour of our own," was her answer.

She sounded positively evil… Daniel loved it.

***

"DANNNNNNNIIIEEELLLLLLLL!!!!"

It really had been too simple.  Janet left a file folder suspiciously open in the middle of the infirmary –right where any "innocent" nurse could sneak a peak at.  It was a forged, detailed report on Colonel Jack O'Neill regarding a leg injury he'd come back with a week ago.

SG-1 and Janet knew that the injury was because a seemingly stable bridge plank had given out under the Colonel's weight…

But that wasn't what the medical report said.

A severely pissed-off Colonel stomped into Daniel Jackson's office, waving and shouting death threats.  Daniel's smirk probably wasn't helping.

"So Jack," Oh, was he going to enjoy this!  "What's this about you dancing naked and accidentally tripping over a tree stump?"

Revenge was sweet.

THE END

Hope you enjoyed my little summer treat… (Unfortunately I'm probably not going to have a chance to write anything for a while.)

Oh… and by the way, there is this little button at the bottom of the scene.  It says "Go" right next to this thing that says "Submit review"…

Press it and type something.

I dare you!


End file.
